Open house on Juneau-moored USCG cutters

Two United States Coast Guard cutters at port in downtown Juneau are opening to the public Thursday afternoon for an open house.

The crew of the USCGC Spar, a buoy tender homeported in Kodiak, is inviting the public to tour the ship during an open house at the Coast Guard Station Juneau from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday.

Meanwhile, at South Franklin Dock, the crew of the USCGC Healy is inviting the public to tour the Coast Guard’s newest and most technologically advanced polar ice breaker during their open house both Thursday and Friday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Both tours are free to the public. All children must be accompanied by an adult and animals will not be allowed on Coast Guard property.

On the Healy, Coast Guard crewmembers will be standing by to answer questions about the 420-foot icebreaker and their most recent operation in the Arctic Ocean.

Likewise, members of the Spar’s crew will be aboard to answer questions about the cutter and its missions.

As part of their visit to Juneau, which began Wednesday morning, the crew of the Healy will also go through their Command Assessment Readiness Training given by the commanding officer.

CART assesses the crew’s operational proficiency, formal school training and team training, as well as inspections of material and equipment status.

During training time, the cutter will be closed to the public.

The larger of the two cutters in Juneau this week, the Healy was commissioned in 2000, and its primary mission is scientific support.

Homeported in Seattle, the cutter has a permanent crew of 80 and can accommodate up to 50 scientists.

In addition, the Healy is capable of other missions such as search and rescue, ship escort, environmental protection, and the enforcement of laws and treaties in the polar regions.